A New Paradigm for Overcoming Problems of Evangelism in the Korean Protestant Church
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While it had grown until the 1980s, Korean Protestantism has undergone stagnation or decline since then. Many people point out that it is because there are some problems related to evangelistic activities, which are significant factors of church growth. Based upon this assumption, this paper aims to diagnose the evangelism of the Korean Protestant Churches performed since the 1990s when postmodern cultural trends began to emerge, and to suggest a new paradigm that will meet the demands of contemporary culture. Based on some reliable statistics, Protestants are still doing evangelistic work very vigorously. Their methods of witnessing are mostly restricted to direct evangelism to unknown people on the street or going from house to house. However, it has been researched that non-Protestants responded negatively to such evangelistic activities. One of the problems in the Korean Protestant evangelism is the evangelist -centered and one-way communication style. In a changing cultural environment, individual consciousness is intensified and a two-way communication style is widely liked. In this context, hearers tend to express their opinions actively, while Protestant evangelists tend to be somehow offensive and inconsiderate to others. In this paper, the new paradigm for effective evangelism in Korea is suggested in four ways. The first is that Protestant evangelists should set up their activities with the mind of incarnational service as the essence of the Gospel. The second is that their works should be carried out from a position of weakness as our Lord Jesus revealed on the Cross. The third is that they should focus on not delivering the message itself but practicing a virtuous and warm-hearted evangelism to touch non-believers. The last is that in the communication process there should be stories of life beyond stereotyped repetition.
Abstract
While it had grown until the 1980s, Korean Protestantism has undergone stagnation or decline since then. Many people point out that it is because there are some problems related to evangelistic activities, which are significant factors of church growth. Based upon this assumption, this paper aims to diagnose the evangelism of the Korean Protestant Churches performed since the 1990s when postmodern cultural trends began to emerge, and to suggest a new paradigm that will meet the demands of contemporary culture. Based on some reliable statistics, Protestants are still doing evangelistic work very vigorously. Their methods of witnessing are mostly restricted to direct evangelism to unknown people on the street or going from house to house. However, it has been researched that non-Protestants responded negatively to such evangelistic activities. One of the problems in the Korean Protestant evangelism is the evangelist -centered and one-way communication style. In a changing cultural environment, individual consciousness is intensified and a two-way communication style is widely liked. In this context, hearers tend to express their opinions actively, while Protestant evangelists tend to be somehow offensive and inconsiderate to others. In this paper, the new paradigm for effective evangelism in Korea is suggested in four ways. The first is that Protestant evangelists should set up their activities with the mind of incarnational service as the essence of the Gospel. The second is that their works should be carried out from a position of weakness as our Lord Jesus revealed on the Cross. The third is that they should focus on not delivering the message itself but practicing a virtuous and warm-hearted evangelism to touch non-believers. The last is that in the communication process there should be stories of life beyond stereotyped repetition.
참고문헌 (25)
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